This invention relates generally to an apparatus for assembling sheet material and more particularly to an apparatus for combining sheet material assemblages such as newspapers from a plurality of stuffer assemblies for conveying in a single stream to a receiving station.
A known newspaper stuffing mechanism includes a plurality of stuffing assemblies, each of which is adapted to assemble a complete newspaper. The newspapers from the two assemblies may be deposited upon two separate conveyors which transport the newspapers to two different receiving stations or the newspapers may be combined and transported to the same receiving station by a single conveyor. In the latter case, a series of complete newspapers from a first of the stuffer assemblies is deposited on the conveyor in an overlapped or shingled stream. When they reach the delivery station for a second stuffer assembly, the stream is unshingled and newspapers from the second assembly are interspersed between the newspapers from the first assembly. The resulting combined stream of unlapped newspapers from the two stuffer assemblies is then shingled by a shingling mechanism. The single stream of overlapped newspapers is then transported by the conveyor to a receiving station. Such an arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,874,649.
Although the newspaper stuffer mechanism disclosed in that patent is believed to represent a substantial improvement over prior art mechanisms the need for handling the streams with greater speed and efficiency is always present.